Bab 193: Luciana's mysterious lover

''Esme, most of them are the new mermaids in our kingdom,'' Luciana said, ''They don't need to know you given that they rose to their ranks only recently.'' 

''You say most of them are new... but not all, right? And if they are new, how do they rise to such high ranks that they have connections with the daughter of the great Norwell Family?'' Esme slid back from the woman, her tail moving in an elegant wave. 

''There can be exceptions. Some of them belong to prestigious families so it's not rare for these families to claim their positions no matter which part of the kingdom they belong to,'' Luciana said with a straight face, ''Even if there are old faces amongst them, they won't recognize you because...'' she looked around, making sure there were alone in the place before she spoke, ''Growing up, you have been a quiet child. Shy, timid... you stayed hidden to not attract attention so you never interacted with anyone.''